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Bill Gates has donated $40 million to Scottish researchers trying to create a cow that can thrive in hotter conditions, such as those in Africa:
Tweaking genes could be one way of increasing the hardiness of some livestock breeds. By isolating desirable genetics traits from European and African cow breeds, geneticists hope to design a cow that produces high quantities of milk and is also able to withstand exceptionally high temperatures.
An Edinburgh-based nonprofit, GALVmed (Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines) just received $40 million from Bill Gates to conduct genetic research with this aim in mind. "You can have a cow that is four times as productive with the same survivability," Gates told the Times.
The philanthropist told the BBC that he was investing in the nonprofit's research because "there is great [...] understanding here of both animal diseases and how we can treat it, and how we enhance the genetics so that you can get, say the same type of milk or egg productivity that we have in the U.K."
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(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 02 2018, @12:42AM (4 children)
Can you grow cow food in Africa? You know, nutritious grass, clover, hay, mad cow brains? Or is it too hot?
Will they have to genetically modify the grass, clover, hay and mad cow brains so they can withstand the heat? Why not just modify the cows so they can fly? Lots of empty air space up there and they could just fly around until they go to a place where the temperature was 'Just Right'.
Then, we could all just walk around with rain hats on (and neck braces to absorb the impact) or use umbrellies... or just genetically modify humans to withstand the impact of 'dropped bombs'.
Things would smell better down here as well, as the methane would just rise up (unless there are a lot of down swells of air: IANAWeatherman).
Flying cows, i think, would solve ALL the worlds problems.
Mr. Billy...could you give me $40millions so i can make flying cows? Whassat? What's that about when pigs are flying? I can do that too, but i'd need more money......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday February 02 2018, @12:47AM (3 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguni_cattle [wikipedia.org]
African Indigenous Cattle: Unique Genetic Resources in a Rapidly Changing World [nih.gov]
Securing the future of cattle production in Africa [nottingham.ac.uk]
The genome landscape of indigenous African cattle [biomedcentral.com]
Cash cows: Why investors are buying pregnant cattle [cnn.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @12:55AM (1 child)
Then why not use those "pre-modified for africa" cows? Is it because they are not patentable?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday February 02 2018, @01:01AM
From the summary:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by captain normal on Friday February 02 2018, @05:04AM
Uh...Mr Gates, I already know the answer. There is a bovine that can thrive in temps up to 115 F (46 C), can eat scrub grasses and only needs a little bit of water. It's called the White Face Hereford. People have been raising them for many years in hot places like West Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. The cows produce very good milk and the Steers (young bulls that have had their balls removed) provide wonderful meat.
You can just donate a small portion of the $40 M to my favorite charity: Elderly Captain's Retirement and Cruising Fund.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--